…Early in 1969, the unexpected fan frenzy generated by
Zoot’s appearance at an outdoor concert televised on Uptight caught the attention of 0-10 Network television
executives. After Zoot’s unexpected
upstaging of headliners The Twilights and established bands such as Iguana,
Compulsion, Wild Cherries and Chelsea Set at that show, the group became
regulars on the popular program.
The musical world was changing, though. With the rising popularity of performers like
The Who, Cream, Jethro Tull and Jimi Hendrix and the increasing influence of
overseas acts like Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Still, Nash & Young, many
Australian pop bands found themselves caught in the transition, recording the
light pop of the recent past but playing harder, louder, edgier music to live
audiences.
Enthusiasm for the pink image was waning, both in the public
and in the band itself, and Zoot was feeling ready for a change. The band had
been aware of Rick for some time. Beeb Birtles had sung harmonies on “Billie’s
Bikey Boys,” an association that Rick says indirectly led to his affiliation
with Zoot.
Darryl Cotton had also seen Rick perform with Wickedy Wak,
at a Melbourne
appearance orchestrated to draw the big names in rock. Sharing the audience at Bertie’s Disco with
Daryl Sambell and Jeff Joseph, The Valentines, the rest of Zoot and future
bandmates Russell Morris and Ronnie Burns, Cotton watched Rick take the stage
and says that his immediate reaction was that he would be great to be in a band
with.
Zoot had been seeking to replace classical guitarist Roger
Hicks with someone who was a better match for the band. Joseph says they knew it wasn’t going to be
easy to find someone with the flair and image they were looking for, but that as
soon as he saw Rick perform, he knew he was the guitarist they wanted. “It was a matter of who got in first,” Joseph
says. “I didn’t waste any time because I
knew that if I didn’t do something then and there, that night, we were going to
lose him.” The band seemed to be in
perfect agreement on that issue. Cotton
says, “For me, no one else was ever in the running, because I was a fan.”
Zoot wasn’t alone in its quest for Rick’s services. According to Beeb Birtles, “The Valentines
were also in hot pursuit, and Zoot were desperate to get him in our band
because of his showmanship.” The
Brisbane Avengers also made a pitch for Rick to join them and, ironically, when
they lost that battle the Avengers hired ex-Zoot guitarist Roger Hicks.
The collaboration was a positive one for Rick and for Zoot. The Valentines, with their plethora of lead
singers, would not have allowed Rick the opportunities to spread his musical
wings that he found with Zoot.
As Zoot had hoped, Rick helped to steer the band in a new
direction. Cotton says, “[Rick] gave it
an edge, a much more aggressive style…basically, what he did was help us
achieve the direction we’d been heading in.”
Joseph says that Rick was also “the initial driving force in the writing
component of the band.” Although both
Beeb and Darryl would ultimately prove themselves accomplished songwriters,
prior to Rick’s arrival Zoot had been recording songs by other, established
writers.
Rick began to write the majority of Zoot’s songs, and his
first single for the band, “Hey Pinky,” blatantly mocked the earlier “think
pink” image. The music, too, was
different—harder and more guitar-driven.
In case the new style of music wasn’t enough to get the point across to
the public, early in 1970 Zoot ceremonially burned their pink jumpsuits in a
44-gallon drum on the live television program Happening 70.
According to Zoot fan club president Maria Gibbs, “there was
a lot of resentment by the fans when Rick joined Zoot.” Although Roger Hicks was something of a
loner, both onstage and after the shows, fans didn’t want to see the familiar
line-up disturbed. However, Maria says,
“Their music really started to change for the better. They got away from that real ‘bubblegum’
sound and image. Rick started to become
very popular…”
Music critics credited Rick with giving Zoot direction, and
with infusing creativity into a band that already had everything else going for
it. Years later, Al Webb, writing for Juke, would refer to Rick as “The kid
who took Zoot from bubblegum to heavy rock.”
The band’s structure during live performances also shifted
with Rick on the guitar. He replaced a
guitarist who was his polar opposite—a classical guitarist, slight in stature
and with no taste for showmanship. For Rick, though, there was more to a
musical performance than just playing the guitar. Rather than using a standard guitar strap,
Rick designed his own strap, attached with Velcro, to give him freedom of
movement and the ability to swing and even throw his guitar. He and lead singer Darryl Cotton came to
comprise the “front line” of the band, with bassist Beeb Birtles and drummer
Rick Brewer staying more in the background. Joseph says, “It was never intended
or planned, it was just his way of working.
Off stage, he was a shy person, but put him on stage and he was like an
animal.”
In 1970, Zoot…
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